Dr. Herukhuti operates as guide along an autoethnographic tour of his life as a revolutionary, artist, scholar and educator. Starting from a look at his family influences–the son of two former Black Panthers and Sunni Muslims–through his earliest activist moments as a junior high school student and later as a student activist, human rights activist, sex educator, cultural worker, and interdisciplinary scholar, this talk/performance/presentation explores the journey to define Self in the context of liberatory struggle and the role of race, class, gender and sexuality in the creation of what Antonio Gramsci called the “organic intellectual” in the tradition of revolutionary scholars like Aimé Césaire, Frantz Fanon, and Gloria Anzaldúa. As a Use of Self mind-map project in vulnerability, authenticity and integrity, this performance is re-designed and constructed each time it is performed to address the unique elements of the audience and venue.

HEALTHY SEXUALITY AND SPIRITUALITY (PRESENTATION/WORKSHOP/RETREAT)

Many people live with sexual shame due to religious trauma they experienced growing up in their homes and communities. Sex-negative messaging and sexual exploitation by religious leaders have led many people adrift, alienated from their bodies, desires and connection to Divinity, Grace, Peace, Oneness. Dr. Herukhuti uses his gifts as a sexual-spiritual healer, teacher and alchemist to help participants develop an authentic, integrative sexuality-spirituality.

EROTIC PLAY (WORKSHOP/RETREAT)

In this hands-on, practical experience, participants have the opportunity to expand their sensual and erotic capacities through play. Games, exercises and activities are shared that participants can use in their own lives to get better acquainted with themselves, friends and lovers. Participants examine their definitions and performance of intimacy and the impact these definitions have on their relationships. Dr. Herukhuti challenges participants to move into positions that express their innermost truths, speak honestly about their experiences and engage other participants in a co-learning experience. Erotic Play is offered as a 90-minute workshop or 3-day retreat and is for adult participants only.

OUR BODIES, OUR WISDOM (RETREAT)

Our Bodies, Our Wisdom (OBOW) engages your mind, body, and soul in a process of self-examination and reflection; identifying and understanding critical life issues and challenges; collective problem solving; and spiritual, emotional, and physical cultivation. Our Bodies, Our Wisdom incorporates three methods of group and individual practice: Sensual Yoga, Theatre of the Oppressed, and African ritual. OBOW was Dr. Herukhuti’s doctoral dissertation project the Fielding Graduate University and the first dissertation produced in the transformative learning for social justice concentration at the university.

BLACK BODIES AND SEXUALITIES (PRESENTATIONS)

Through slide presentation, Dr. Herukhuti traces the history of Black sexuality from antiquity to the present moment. In Black Bodies and Sexualities: The Darker Brother/Sister of Black Studies, we consider how the politics of racism, sexism, heterosexism and classism have informed and affected the study of Black sexuality. Black people’s bodies and sexualities have held particular positions in the popular and scholarly discourses. They have been the subject and target of law such as the anti-miscegenation laws, science such as the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment and current HIV/AIDS research, art such as the photography of Robert Mapplethorpe, politics such as the use of Willie Horton in a presidential campaign. In this presentation, we see this history and examine its implications.

CAMPUS ORGANIZING 101 (TRAINING)

Dr. Herukhuti draws upon his experience as a campus organizer and his scholarship on student movement organizing to help train student leaders and those who aspire to be student leaders in how to organize for social justice on their campus. Participants learn important skills including environmental scans, strategic action, coalition building, intersectional analysis, using programming to build community, etc. In addition to skill-building, this training helps participants develop the awareness necessary to be effective, principled leaders for change in their schools.

THE READ (READING)

Dr. Herukhuti reads from any of his published works i.e., Conjuring Black Funk: Notes on Culture, Sexuality and Spirituality, Volume 1, Bodeme in Harlem: An African Diasporic Autoethnography, etc.and non-published work (e.g., poetry, creative non-fiction, essays, etc.). Following the reading, Dr. Herukhuti engages the audience in a discussion of topics, themes and questions that they have.